Saturday, 31 March 2018
Before work, Allan helped me dig up a start of Eupatorium ‘Pink Frost’ to take to the Shelburne. I have it planted in a big old garbage can planter, not easy to divide from. The one I got from Todd for my birthday is Eupatorium fortunei ‘Capri’, which is shorter and whose foliage is a brighter pink.
We had an audience.
We then planted sweet peas along the fence at the
Ilwaco boatyard garden.
I still don’t know the extent of the possible digging. The construction crew for the new boat washing thingie cannot dig the sweet peas all up, can they? I figure there is no way they would dig all along the base of the fence, although they may have to go under it a time or two…
Allan’s photos:
With that done, we returned to
Long Beach
We first deadheaded the welcome sign. Just in time for spring break, it’s in an awkward pause between narcissi and tulips.
We then returned with enthusiasm to the final section of the Bolstad beach approach garden.
I had offered up free rugosa roses (with plenty of warning about how they run) on a Facebook group for Peninsula Gardeners. I recall that about four group members said they would come get some, so I asked Allan to start by pulling the roses right along the edge (where we try to keep them back from sidewalk and street).
As it turned out, only one couple showed up for roses. I saved two buckets of cuttings for a friend who is out of town.
befores (Allan’s photos):
I found a painted rock from “Long Beach school” hidden deep under lupines. A lot of these rocks get put in places where plants grow over them and only the gardeners will find them. I put it on better display.
I did not complain about picked narcissi yesterday, deciding to give the finger blight rants a one day rest. Today, I found several narcissi clumps whose flowers were plucked and one big hole where something got stolen, probably a nice clump of narcissi.
We had a delightful visit from our friend Mitzu, former staff member at a place where we recently quit working. She and her people were going for a walk.
At 3:30, we made it to the end!
And the vehicle traffic had not been nearly as bad (for weeding on the street side) as we had expected on this sunny spring break Saturday. A woman walking by said, “Your town is so pretty! I love coming here!”
afters (Allan’s photos):
We will add some mulch when a new pile is delivered to city works.
A bit of deadheading by the hotel/townhouse/arch end of the beach approach, and we were done.
Allan and I separated, he to dump debris and then to deadhead the south blocks of planters and street tree gardens and me to deadhead city hall and the north blocks.
The wider part of the west bed needs more narcissi planted next fall.
I had wanted to take a March photo record of all of the planters and street tree gardens. Due to bright sun and deep shadows and to my camera battery dying, this mission failed. My iPhone camera couldn’t handle the light contrast. We did get some pretty photos, and enough of a record that I can use to make a list of which planters are low on narcissi.
Here are some of the end of March flowers of Long Beach.
my photos:
Allan’s photos:
If I could get up the energy, I would like that to be the next planter we clear out as it looks rather dull most of the time.
With all of Long Beach town deadheaded, we repaired to the Shelburne Hotel to plant one Eupatorium ‘Pink Frost’ and to reward ourselves for our completed days and days of weeding the beach approach.
Shelburne Pub
I had black garlic fried rice and am still remembering its goodness as I write this a day later.
At home, I woke two sleeping cats.
The only let down to the happy end of the beach approach project was that Calvin’s cough has come back. It was so bad in the late evening that I thought of the emergency vet. Some soothing medicine I had left over from Smoky helped him, so that he can wait till Monday to go in for an asthma shot.
The re-written work board:
I have every intention, some time in the next two weeks, of working on a new volunteer garden project at the Ilwaco Fire Station.
I bet you were as glad to see the “ocian” as Lewis & Clark! The photos of the planters are so beautiful — no wonder people love visiting Long Beach.
What are all the painted rocks?
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Rock painting and then hiding them around is a big hobby here in the NW. There are many FB groups for different town’s rock painters where you can post photos of the rocks you’ve found. Most are signed on the back with where they are from.
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Congrats on reaching the buoy! Great photos of all the planters, well, except for maybe that enormous Hebe. Looks like yummy food and desserts at the Shelburne pub. I would have a hard time choosing from that dessert menu, they all sound delicious. Hope Calvin is ok.
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Job well done getting the beach approach beds tended!
Yesterday whilst working at my volunteer garden, I noticed that a finger blighter had lifted an entire patch of hens n’chicks planted by the curb. I could replace them from my own garden, from whence they originally came but I am at that theft burn out point where I cannot be bothered.
The town planters look nice and spring cheerful!
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I hear you re that theft burn out point. I reached it on the beach approach garden last year.
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Congratulations on getting to the sea. In spite of some iffy weather, you are miles ahead of us when it comes to having flowers to look at.
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Glad you came to the end of that long stretch. The flowers are all so pretty. Looks like spring. It is still winter here. The feast at the Shelburne looked delicious and was well deserved. Skooter looks adorable and hope Calvin is soon better.
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It looks more like spring, not only because of what the flowers are doing, but because of the color of the sunlight.
Those rocks are cool. I do not like fads, but this one is pretty cool. I wrote a brief article about it a while back.
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I’ll look for that article, on your blog?
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Here it is. https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2017/09/25/rocks/
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